PHYSICIST

Ernest Rutherford

1871 - 1937

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Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson (30 August 1871 – 19 October 1937) was a New Zealand physicist who was a pioneering researcher in both atomic and nuclear physics. He has been described as "the father of nuclear physics", and "the greatest experimentalist since Michael Faraday". In 1908, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his investigations into the disintegration of the elements, and the chemistry of radioactive substances." He was the first Oceanian Nobel laureate, and the first to perform the awarded work in Canada. Rutherford's discoveries include the concept of radioactive half-life, the radioactive element radon, and the differentiation and naming of alpha and beta radiation. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Ernest Rutherford is the 20th most popular physicist (down from 11th in 2019), the most popular biography from New Zealand and the most popular New Zealander Physicist.

Ernest Rutherford is most famous for his work with radioactivity and the discovery of the atomic nucleus.

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Among PHYSICISTS

Among physicists, Ernest Rutherford ranks 20 out of 851. Before him are André-Marie Ampère, Evangelista Torricelli, Erwin Schrödinger, Henri Becquerel, J. J. Thomson, and James Prescott Joule. After him are Edward Victor Appleton, Werner Heisenberg, William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, Enrico Fermi, John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, and Georg Ohm.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1871, Ernest Rutherford ranks 3. Before him are Rosa Luxemburg, and Marcel Proust. After him are Alexander Scriabin, Friedrich Ebert, Grazia Deledda, Victor Grignard, Karl Liebknecht, Guangxu Emperor, Pietro Badoglio, Paul Valéry, and Albert Lebrun. Among people deceased in 1937, Ernest Rutherford ranks 1. After him are Guglielmo Marconi, Maurice Ravel, Pierre de Coubertin, John D. Rockefeller, Alfred Adler, Antonio Gramsci, H. P. Lovecraft, Amelia Earhart, Erich Ludendorff, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, and Lou Andreas-Salomé.

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In New Zealand

Among people born in New Zealand, Ernest Rutherford ranks 1 out of 303. After him are Edmund Hillary (1919), Russell Crowe (1964), Maurice Wilkins (1916), Bruce McLaren (1937), Peter Jackson (1961), Alan MacDiarmid (1927), Katherine Mansfield (1888), Denny Hulme (1936), Rosé (1997), Anthony Wilding (1883), and William Phillips (1914).

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Among PHYSICISTS In New Zealand

Among physicists born in New Zealand, Ernest Rutherford ranks 1. After him are Maurice Wilkins (1916).

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